Ya Nangolo slapped with N$ 300 000 defamation suit

By Asser Ntinda

The Executive Director of the National Society for Human Rights, NSHR, Phil Ya Nangoloh, has been slapped with a N$300 000 defamation suit following a press release he issued late last year in which he claimed that three civil servants had a “hit list” to assassinate him and Editor of Informante, Max Hamata.

In the release, Ya Nangoloh claimed that there was a “clique” with the “country’s civilian intelligence outfit,” the Namibian Central Intelligence Agency, NCIA, which was plotting to “eliminate” Hamata, Ya Nangoloh and several “other perceived government critics.”

Ya Nangoloh claimed that he had received “messages” from his sources in the intelligence service telling him to be “extremely careful.” He claimed that two such sources had named Founding President Dr. Sam Nujoma, as the “spider at the center of the web of such plotting.”

The story was broken by Informante newspaper in December last year and Ya Nangoloh claimed that he was not at all surprised by Informante’s “revelations” because prior to the publication of the story, he claimed that he had been “receiving messages for two weeks from sympathetic NCIS and Military Intelligence operatives” as well as other persons.

“They told me to be extremely careful as several top leaders in the so called Omusati Clique have allegedly drawn up a hit list consisting of Hamata and certain people in RDP (Rally for Democracy and Progress) to be eliminated,” claimed Ya Nangoloh in the press release.

“At least two such sources have named former Namibian President, Dr Sam Nujoma as the spider at the center of the web of such plotting, specifically the names of Shilunga, Dozze and Penna have often been cited as the implementers of this heinous scheming.”

As a result of that story, Ephraim Dozze Ileka, an Executive Secretary to the Founding President, has instituted legal action against Ya Nangoloh. Dozze’s lawyer, Sisa Namandje – a rising star in the legal profession – confirmed the defamation suit, adding that the summons would be handed over to Ya Nangoloh by yesterday, Thursday.

Dozze, through his lawyer, said that Ya Nangoloh’s allegations defamed him and were understood by people to mean that Dozze was the implementer of an unlawful plot to eliminate Ya Nangoloh and other persons, was a criminal, a killer and an intolerant secret agent.

“The above were made unlawfully with the intention to injure the plaintiff in his reputation and thereby lowering his esteem in the mind of the right thinking members of the community,” read the summons.

“As a result of the publication of the above statement, the plaintiff’s reputation was injured and his esteem lowered in the eyes of the right thinking members of the community in Namibia and others who acquired knowledge of the statement by the defendant.”

The defamatory statement was aggravated by the fact that the allegations were not true and were made by the defendant when he himself could not reasonably believe in the truth of such statements and never took reasonable efforts to verify them before they were published.

“As a result of the defamatory statement made by the defendant, the context in which they were made, the aggravating features of those statements and the impact thereof on the plaintiff’s reputation in Namibia, the plaintiff has suffered damages in the amount of N$300 000 which defendant is liable to pay to the plaintiff,” Namandje said in the summons.

Namandje is also asking Ya Nangoloh to pay the costs of the suit plus 20 per cent interest per year from the date of the judgment to the date of final payment. Ya Nangoloh could not be reached for comment.

One of the three people also named as “implementers of the hit list” is also suing Ya Nangoloh on the same allegations. Apart from the defamation suit which Dozze has laid against Ya Nangoloh, he is also planning to drag him to Uukwambi Traditional Authority to be charged in a traditional court. Once found guilty in a traditional court, hefty fines will be imposed, which may include money and herds of cattle.